Snapbots have landed! Vending machines selling Snapchat Spectacles arrive in the US

Snapchat, under its new name of Snap Inc, recently surprised many of us by announcing its first hardware product – a $130 pair of Google Glass-style 'Spectacles'.

Now, the first Spectacles have gone on sale in Venice Beach in LA – but, as was to be expected from Snap Inc, the launch was far from traditional.

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Snap Inc's Spectacles are only being sold via cartoony vending machines called Snapbots being placed in 'surprising locations throughout the US.' These vending machines are in the, now iconic, Snapchat yellow with a large 'eye' on the front and receptacle designed to look like a mouth.

Snap Inc

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A map on the Spectacles' website will reveal more about these locations, but Snapchat said they will all be in locations that lend themselves well to making memories – so expect some near landmarks, places of interest or anywhere with an amazing view. Snap Inc has not revealed plans to release the Spectacles in the UK and Europe, yet.

The Snapbot 'sleeps' until a person enters the vending machine's camera's field of vision at which point it lets them virtually try on different colours (using the corresponding buttons on the front of the machine) in a similar way you can switch between lenses on the app. Once a person has selected a colour and bought the Spectacles, a pair of fully-charged glasses will be dropped into the Snapbot's 'mouth'.

Since the first Spectacles went on sale yesterday, and subsequently sold out at their original location, the glasses have already appeared on eBay in excess of $500. One listing is asking people with Spectacles to fly to Australia, all expenses paid.

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The Spectacles come with a built-in video camera that records footage in a circular format and allows it to be automatically shared with friends. By tapping a button on the top left-hand corner of the glasses, the recording mode is activated and 10 seconds of video is captured. If a second tap of the button is made, 30 seconds of continuous video will be recorded.

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The Spectacles have been compared to Google Glass, but at least one lesson has been learnt from the failure of Google's headset. In an attempt to avoid criticism over recording people without them being informed, a light on the glasses turns on when they are recording.

At the time of launch, Evan Spiegel, the company's CEO, said the Spectacles are a "toy," "fun" and to stop the social network's 150 million daily users from holding their phones "like a wall in front of your face".